Albert/Alfred Gurney

It would appear that Albert Gurney could be, in fact, Private Alfred Gurney (14104) of the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers (City of London) Regiment whose entry in UK Soldiers who Died in the Great War states was born in Hampton Wick and was killed in action on 13 February 1915 in France.

There is an Albert Gurney born in Hampton Wick in about 1893 listed in the 1901 Census. He lived at 78 Acre Road Kingston with his parents Alfred, a paperhanger, and Mary Ann Gurney (who had also been born in Hampton Wick) and their other children Prince Alfred (2) and Mary Rose (3 months). An entry in the 1911 Census for an eighteen year old Alfred Gurney from Kingston at the Aldershot barracks of the 4th Royal Fusiliers suggests that perhaps Albert/Alfred was a member of the regular army. He may have enlisted because as the 1911 Census reveals his mother had recently re-married and moved to 23 Ovington St, Chelsea taking her younger children, Prince Alfred (12) and Mary Rose (10) to join her husband, George H Conrady, as stepchildren. Perhaps Albert changed his name to his father’s name Alfred?